A third whistleblower lawsuit alleges that a former Mooresville employee faced two options when he found evidence of Mayor Chris Carney inside town hall late one night undressed and visibly aroused: conceal evidence or resign.

Former town IT director Chris Lee insisted that the town preserve the “politically explosive” video evidence showing Carney and a communications consultant just after midnight on October 10, 2024, according to a federal lawsuit Lee filed Wednesday.

When Lee “resisted improper directives” from town leadership and “refused to delete, alter, misclassify, conceal (or) corrupt” the footage and other electronic evidence, like access logs, he was “forced out of his employment through a termination-threatened, resignation-pressured separation,” according to court documents in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.

Lee’s lawsuit names Carney, the town of Mooresville, Police Chief Ron Campurciani, Town Manager Tracey Jerome and Chief Financial Officer Chris Quinn.

Mooresville mayor refutes lawsuit claims about late-night encounters

After initial publication of this story, the town issued a statement:

“The Town denies any allegation of wrongdoing as it pertains to the lawsuit filed by Chris Lee and intends to defend this matter vigorously in Court. The Town has always been committed to maintaining a safe, respectful, and professional workplace free from harassment or retaliation.

“The Town takes any concerns raised by employees or others seriously and have established policies, practices, and procedures in dealing with such concerns. The Town will respond to and defend the lawsuit through the appropriate legal process and remains committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and professionalism.”

Carney last month told The Charlotte Observer the claims were bogus. He said he came to the office after drinks from a bar blocks away didn’t mix well with his medication.

He was cleaning vomit off himself by himself, he said, and the consultant was multiple offices away.

“I never thought, to be fair, that vomiting and making a mess would become a national story,” the mayor previously said. “I really couldn’t have imagined that.”

Lee alleged in the lawsuit that the video shows “Mayor Carney in a state of partial or complete undress, with his genitalia exposed and his penis visibly erect while inside Town Hall.”

Lee alleges that his pressured resignation “served a dual purpose: silencing a whistleblower and sending a clear institutional message that employees who insist on lawful evidence preservation, truthful classification, and transparency will lose their careers.”

Two other former town employees, including another IT worker and police chief assistant, say they were forced to resign after they fought to conserve similar evidence of Carney’s late night visit.

Former assistant police chief Frank Falzone said officials threatened to take away his pension after nearly 30 years with the department if he didn’t retire. That was retaliation, he said, after he raised concerns about lost body-camera footage of a late-night traffic stop where the mayor “may have been impaired,” according to allegations in Falzone’s lawsuit.

Former IT employee Jeffrey Noble alleged in a lawsuit that the town incorrectly accused him of leaking footage of the incident and fired him without proper investigation.

Carney called both claims “sensational,” and last month said separate investigations found no truth in either.